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Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Mixed signals

"Clean money" sure is a wondrous thing. The Portland City Council candidates whose campaigns are being financed by the taxpayers in the wasteful "voter-owed elections" system just keep a-pumpin' out the junk mail.

Here's part of a mailer we got yesterday from John Branam. Not much new in this one compared to what we've seen before (surprising, given how well his campaign manager is paid), but they did add what appears to be a picture of the candidate and his dad long ago:

And there's that logo again, up top, which sorta looks like this, don'tcha think? No wonder WW has taken to calling him "Obranam."

But a funnier piece comes from another "clean money" candidate, Amanda Fritz. Now, we don't dislike Amanda, although we're supporting one of her opponents in the primary. But we had to laugh when someone who does dislike her pointed out something funny about this flyer:

Inside, she gets quite specific about what she's complaining about:

Spending Portland taxpayers' money with out-of-area firms is a shame and a sin. O.k., point well taken.

But then when you flip to the back panel --

-- and look down in the lower left where all the little union insignia and soy ink and recycling symbols are, if you get out your really strong reading glasses, and squint really hard, you see where Amanda had her flyers printed up:

Comments (36)

This Eugene print shop in question prints their pieces in Eugene and then TRUCKS them up to Portland to be mailed locally so it appears they are produced in Portland.

The puzzling thing is that there are a lot of very good local print shops. If this piece mentions how much she wants to support local jobs why didn't she go local and then try and cover it up in a sneaky way? Not only does this not support local businesses with Portlander's own tax dollars but it wastes a lot of natural resources trucking this stuff over 100 miles.

I know the union shop consideration is a big one, but you'd think that being "sustainable" is also important. Seems like the carbon footprint of printing the pieces in Portland would be less than printing them in Eugene and having a big truck drive them up I-5 to Portland (and then make the return trip).

But, yeah, the union thing. I worked for campaigns in California back in the day, and it was sometimes quite hilarious to see the internal scrambling that had to happen to ensure that every aspect of a campaign was pro-union.

Isaac, Branum is still running in the wrong city. The Fremont has secondary arches on each end of the main arch with ten supporting struts per each arch. The lattes at Homers must be spiked. Gee, "Homers" wouldn't be a bad name for a Pearl restaurant, has Homer considered it? By the way I've licensed the name, but I'll take an offer for it's use.

For all of her bluster I find it ironic that Amanda, out of all the council candidates, has spent the most VOE money out of the Portland metro area. We have this mailing and her expensive out of state poll. For someone who prides herself on her years of community involvement and a campaign platform of listening I find it strange that someone like this needs a poll to tell them what to tell Portland voters. Isn't that what the listening is for? WTF.....

What's with the NO MAKE-UP photos, huh? Oh, so working class this Amanda Fritz who claims to be an RN, but actually married a successful private practice physician and hasn't worked as an RN in years. It would be more honest to lister her occupation as "doctor's wife" and list her motivation to run for City Council as, "kids are grown and lots of time on my hands to do this sort of thing."

I will be voting for Amanda, but it just astonishes me how quickly City Council candidates start acting like John McCain!

You are mistaken. The bug on Frtiz’s piece is from Shelton Turnbull Printers in Eugene, Oregon. Here is their web site: http://www.sheltonturnbull.com

This makes sense since Fritz’s consultant, Hiram Sachs from Salem, uses this shop almost exclusively for his clients.

This whole thing wouldn’t be so scandalous if Fritz wouldn’t have tried to do two things. First, her piece focuses on keeping taxpayer money here in Portland, yet she is spending $110,000 of her VOE money outside of Portland. That equates to over two-thirds of our taxpayer funds for her campaign leaving Portland to get her elected. Secondly, she apparently tried to hide that fact. Specifically, she didn’t list the actual “principal place of business” of TGF Productions of Lake Oswego in her Orestar reports – she used the owner’s home address! Kudos to “cc” for uncovering that fact through the state’s business registry.

Bojack and commenters have been very reserved in their comments – they are just pointing out that Fritz’s “walk” does not match her “talk”. Fritz is spending the vast majority of her public funds outside of Portland while at the same time saying she would do different while in office? Does not compute.

There are several outstanding print shops, consultants, and polling firms here in Portland. If she is going to make keeping jobs and money here in Portland a central part of her campaign, she should actually do it herself. Give me a break!

We know she is reading this. If this is incorrect she needs to set the record straight.

As an aside:
"For a Salem outfit to use a Portland print company would seem highly unlikely."

You overestimate the quality of printing services in Salem and environs. Quite a few of my clients from Salem have their printing/boxing/packaging work done in Portland. Salem's not that far from Portland; in fact, it's nearer to Portland than to Eugene.

Jack Bogdanski supported me in 2006, for which I am grateful. I know many of you did also, for which I am equally grateful.

One thing I tried to do while running, unless I'd had too many scotch whiskeys, was not respond to comments on blogs. You can't win and you can't change anybody's mind. At some point, you just quit reading.

I learned something about myself two years ago. I am too thin skinned for politics. It really hurts when people who don't know you spew their vitriol at you and make assumptions about you.

I say this with all sincerity... and I've had a couple drinks but not too many. All of you who criticize Amanda, or any other candidate, ought to experience running for office just one time. It's an experience I will always value, but one which I will never repeat.

When you contemplate why the best and brightest choose not to put themselves in the electoral arena, read the posts on this blog and the answer becomes obvious.

I truly believe that candidates are, for the most part, well intentioned people who sincerely want to help. I know I was. And I'm a guy who likes everybody he's ever met, which maybe makes me unsuitable for politics. But after experiencing the hate, from both supporters and detractors, that I experienced two years ago, I won't go through it again.

I already cast my vote for Amanda and I hope she wins. I think she will be a great concil person. And I admire her for being willing to go through it again.

Road Work

Miles run year to date: 113
At this date last year: 155
Total run in 2016: 155
In 2015: 271
In 2014: 401
In 2013: 257
In 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269